NBC Chicago 7-27-17 (Pokemon GO Fest)

Lawsuit Filed Over Pokemon Go Fest Bogged Down by Issues

July 22, 2017

Massive outages and long lines plagued Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago earlier this month, and a new class action lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for players who were impacted by the issues.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County Court Thursday, is seeking reimbursement for travel expenses after the festival, which sold out within minutes, was bogged down by connectivity issues on the game.

The suit claims that game-players were unable to get into the festival due to long lines, and that once inside players were unable to connect to the game’s servers, which were unusable because of insufficient bandwidth in cell towers around the park where the event took place.

All people who attended the festival were offered a refund of their $20 admission price, as well as $100 in in-game credits in the form of Pokecoins.

“Last Saturday was not a happy day for us, but we are committed to listening to that feedback, however harsh, to improve what we do so that we can continue to build experiences that bring together people, technology, and the real world in innovative ways,” Niantic said in a blog post.